Device for masking the closable area of a container during the coating of the container

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for masking the closure attaching portion of a container to prevent the coating of said closure attaching portion while permitting the spreading of a coating material over the remaining surface of the container.

United States Patent Inventors David G. Carl Sylvania; Richard C. Kietzman; William A. Knapp, both of Toledo all of Ohio Appl. No. 879,081

Filed Nov. 24, 1969 Patented Jan. 4, 1972 Assignee Owens-Illinois, Inc.

DEVICE FOR MASKING THE CLOSABLE AREA OF A CONTAINER DURING THE COATING OF THE CONTAINER 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 118/504 Int. Cl 1305c 11/00 Field ofSeareh 118/416,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,946,696 7/1960 Lopenski 1 18/504 X 2,088,542 7/1937 Westin 118/320 X 2,210,187 8/1940 Ross 1 18/500 2,721,535 10/1955 Zitkus 118/320 X 2,833,548 5/1958 Clark 279/1 Q 2,869,883 1/1959 Dunbar 279/1 Q Primary ExaminerLouis K. Rimrodt Attorneys-P. L. Sabatine, E. J. Holler and D. T. Innis ABSTRACT: Apparatus for masking the closure attaching portion of a container to prevent the coating of said closure attaching portion while permitting the spreading of a coating material over the remaining surface of the container.

PATENTEDJM: 4:972

SHEET 2 [1F 2 WV NTOR. DAUID G. IRL y RICHARD C- KIETZFIAU WILLIAM A KNAPP ATFOR' EVS DEVICE FOR MASKING TI-IE CLOSABLE AREA OF A CONTAINER DURING THE COATING OF THE CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a novel apparatus and method for effectively masking the reclosable portion of a container of narrow or wide mouth configuration from decorating and coating compositions of matter as conventionally applied to the remaining unmasked portion of said containers. More particularly, the invention pertains to an apparatus for snugly positioning and masking the exterior closable end of a container having threads, a rim, a bead or the like to produce a closable end surface essentially free of unwanted coatings and the like.

In the past, it has been the practice in the decorating and coating arts to apply decorating and coating compositions of matter to the entire, exterior, exposed surface area of a container formed from various compositions of matter such as ceramics, glasses, and polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride and the like by conventional art techniques such as spraying, dipping and the like. The usual employment of these art known techniques for applying decorating and coatings to the exterior surface area of an open mouth container, often leads to serious difficulties, especially when an easyopen reclosable closure for said container is routinely used as an integral component in combination with said containers. One of the serious difiiculties encountered is the unwanted coating of the closure attaching portion of the container, for example, the threads, rim or bead thereof. The closure attaching portion may be designed for using the snapon type or the screw on type closure. The coating of the closure attaching portion is undesirable because it prevents the closure from tightly and snugly engaging the attaching portion of the container to effect a good acceptable seal of said just coated container. In actual practice, when closures are fabricated with a limited degree of sizing freedom in respect to any given container, it is common to witness the complete failure of the closure to fit or to nest the closure attaching portion of the container because of the interfering applied coatings.

Thus, in the light of the above discussion, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties associated with the prior art.

It is a further object of the present invention to make available to the art an apparatus and method for masking the closure attaching portion of a decorable or coatable container.

Yet it is still another object of the present invention to provide a masking means for maintaining the reclosable closure fitting area of a container essentially free of any type of over coatings while simultaneously permitting the nonclosure area of said container to be overcoated with coatings and the like.

It is also an important object of this invention to provide a composite apparatus having an opening for sealingly and concurrently engaging the exterior surfaces of the closure attaching portion of a container.

Still another important object of this invention is to provide a means for masking the closure attaching portion of a container, wherein said means comprises a tooled chuck having at least one open end for internally and snugly receiving the exposed closure portion of a container and wherein said chuck apparatus is further characterized by having a recessedlike circular rim housing a sealinglike gasket at the outermost annular area of its container receiving end for producing an essentially tightly sealed joint between the container and the apparatus firmly and intimately engages the container.

Numerous other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description and the attached drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention, there is provided a novel and efficient configuration for keeping preselect portion of a coatable surface to remain free of any applied coating while applying the coating to the preselect area where a coating is desired. Particularly, the invention is concerned with an apparatus for masking the closure attachable portion or finish of a container so it will remain free of any contact with a coating solution.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the accompanying drawings:

FIG. I is a vertical, crosssectional view of the cylindrical masking chuck of the invention in engagement with a container.

FIG. 2 is a vertical, crosssectional view of one embodiment of the masking chuck of the invention adapted for receiving containers of the narrow mouth type.

FIG. 3 is a vertical, crosssectional view of the second embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, illustrated in sealing relationship to a container of the wide mouth type.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the plural chuck supporting and rotating apparatus of the invention and illustrating the hand loading of the chucks, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 4 illustrating the chuck moving apparatus at the hand unloading position of the chucks.

Turning now to the drawings in detail, with reference to FIGS. 1-3, the chuck apparatus of the invention comprises a main body member 10, which may have any predetermined geometric design such as circular (as shown), square, rectangular or the like.

The main body member may be fabricated from conventional materials such as, air-hardened tool steel, cast iron, bronze, berylliumnickel alloy, fluorocarbons, plastic materials such as Bakelite, highdensity polyethylene, phenolic oxidative coupling polymers, and the like. The body member 10 is provided with an internal opening 11 adapted to receive and support a container 12 having either a narrow neck or a wide mouth. The end 13, opposite to the container supporting opening 11, is open to the atmosphere and to the interior of the container 12 by bore 17, thus avoiding the possibility of forming a vacuum within a container 12 when carried by the chuck 10.

The body member or chuck 10 of FIG. 2 is provided with an undercut portion forming an annular recess 14 extending circumferentially around the internal area of body member 10. The annular recess 14, which is semicircular in cross section, serves as the seat for a composite, flexible and resilient member or O- ring 15. The 0- ring effectively serves as the sealing member for tightly engaging in intimate sealing contacting the outer container wall surface when said container is positioned within the internal opening II of the chuck I0.

The flexible, resilient member is generally of a ringshaped fitment construction and it is usually made from natural rubber, synthetic rubber, for example of the butadiene type, silicone or of flexible, resilient plastic. These properties are generally important because it is desirable that the ring member be able to firmly contact the container and the internal portion of the masking mold to effect an impermeable barrier for preventing coating compositions from coating the closure attaching portion of the engaged container. The resilient properties are also desirable because of the occasional need for the ring member to be able to deform sufficiently to accommodate normal manufacturing irregularities in the wall diameter of the container and to greatly facilitate the maintenance of the snug engagement with the container walls. Typical materials which are suitable for use in forming ring member 15 include polyolefins, for example lowdensity polyethylene and polypropylene, plasticized vinyls, foamed plastics, copoly mers of ethylene and vinyl esters, for example an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. These materials are included not by way of limitation but they are intended to be merely exemplary of the general types of materials which are suitable for the practice of this invention.

The ring member may be manufactured by any one of numerous methods known in the arts for forming plastic materials, such as injection molding, blow molding, rotational molding and vacuum forming. Additionally, these rings may be colored by the addition of suitable colorants in methods also well known in the arts.

Returning now to the drawings in detail, with reference to FIGS. 1-3, FIGS. 1 and 2 depict one of the embodiments of the invention, as can be used for a container having a threaded neck portion. As best shown in FIG. 2, there is provided in conjunction with internal opening 11, an annular recess 14 within which the flexible, resilient ring member 15 is positioned. An internal female thread 18, for receiving the externally threaded neck, of a container, is provided below the ring 15. In operation, the neck of the container is conveniently turned into the internal, threaded portion 18 of body member 10 until the annular bead 19 of the container 12 rests snugly against and in intimate contact with ring member 15, as shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 3 there is shown another embodiment of the invention utilized for masking a wide mouth container 32, that has its opening terminating in a circular bead or annular rim type configuration. In operation then, the external, exposed rim 39 of wide mouth container 32 is snugly and firmly positioned into body masking member 30 resting on internal shoulder 40 and with the outermost rim of container 32 in intimate and sealing engagement with ring member 35. When container 32 rests on internal shoulder 40, its internal area is open to the atmosphere through openings 31 and 33.

Referring to FIGS. 4-5, the apparatus embodying the invention comprises a chuck moving means, not shown, of a conventional endless conveyor 25 or chainonedge conveyor type. The conveyor is adapted to convey chucks and containers, snugly engaged within the threaded chucks of FIGS. 1 and 2 or by the rim engaging apparatus of FIG. 3 and as sketched in FIGS. 4 and as body member 10, through a coating area 26. The body member is supported or mounted to a support means 21, in the form of a hollow shaft or hollow spindle. The plural support means 21 is fixed to the conveyor at spaced points therealong. Each support means 21 is equipped with a spur gear 23 or the like, located beneath the body member 10 and in position such that gears 23 will engage a stationary rack 24 to turn the spindles 21 and containers 12 a full 360 while said containers are being coated, for example by a spray gun 22 at the coating area 26 to insure a complete coating of all the exposed surface of container 12 except for the portion of container 12 which is masked by housing check 10. The rack 24 is generally of sufficient length so that it extends through the container loading area so that in practice the container self screws itself into the internally threaded female chuck. Of course, if a snapon closure container is being coated, a different chuck is employed, FIG. 3, and the container is merely pushed axially into the chuck.

In the coating operation, the operator at the feed position of the spray system loads the containers into the masking apparatus in an inverted position so that the container is firmly screwed or firmly nested into the masking chuck with the container in sealing engagement with the 0- ring seal. Next, the container is conveyed into the coating area wherein it is sprayed with various solutions to accomplish the desired coating. In the coating area, no coating solution will penetrate above the bead, or the rim on the finish of the container due to the preventive action of the sealing ring positioned in the chuck. Thus, the closure attaching portion of the container is essentially free of any coating reagent. After the container is coated, it can be easily removed from the chuck by manual rotation or by the spindle gears 23 engaging a rack 41 (See FIG. 5) to reversely rotate the spindle so that the operator merely holds the container and the container unscrews itself from the chuck. Of course, if the container is of the nonthreaded type the operator manually removes it from the masking chuck. In actual operation, containers were coated with various solutions, such as aqueous silver nitrate, lacqueous, emulsified pol ethylene and the like and the closure attaching portion of e container was observed to be free of any undesired coating in said area.

While embodiments of the disclosure have been described in detail, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments may be modified in the light of the present application and that foregoing description is not to be construed as limiting the true scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A chuck apparatus for masking the closure attaching portion of a container neck during coating of said container with said container positioned in an inverted attitude comprising a main body member having a container neck receiving opening in one end thereof, radially, outwardly extending recess means formed in said neck receiving opening of said body member adjacent the one end thereof, resilient means positioned in said recess means and extending inwardly of said opening for sealingly engaging said container neck when said container neck is positioned in said receiving opening, and venting means connected to the interior of said member and said container for preventing a vacuum within said container.

2. Apparatus for transporting containers through a coating process comprising a plurality of vertical spindles mounted for rotation about their vertical axes and movable in series through a coating area, chuck means mounted on the upper end of each spindle for supporting a container in a neckdown position, a spur gear mounted coaxially on each spindle, a first stationary rack means mounted adjacent the line of travel of said spindle, said rack being positioned to engage the spur gears on said spindles as said spindles are moved to and through the coating area, whereby said spindles are caused to progress in one direction, a second stationary rack means mounted adjacent the path of movement of said spindles, said second rack means being engaged by the spur gears on said spindles after the spindles have moved out of the coating area, whereby said spindles are caused to progress in another direction for ease of removal of containers carried by the chucks.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said chuck means comprises an annular member, said member being formed with a container neck receiving opening in one end thereof, radially, outwardly extending recess means formed in the neck receiving opening of said member adjacent the said one end thereof, resilient means positioned in said recess and extending inwardly of said opening, whereby positioning of a container neck in said member causes compression of said resilient means to seal the neck area of the container from intrusion of externally applied coating solutions, and venting means connected to the interior of said member and container for preventing a vacuum within the container. 

1. A chuck apparatus for masking the closure attaching portion of a container neck during coating of said container with said container positioned in an inverted attitude comprising a main body member having a container neck receiving opening in one end thereof, radially, outwardly extending recess means formed in said neck receiving opening of said body member adjacent the one end thereof, resilient means positioned in said recess means and extending inwardly of said opening for sealingly engaging said container neck when said container neck is positioned in said receiving opening, and venting means connected to the interior of said member and said container for preventing a vacuum within said container.
 2. Apparatus for transporting containers through a coating process comprising a plurality of vertical spindles mounted for rotation about their vertical axes and movable in series through a coating area, chuck means mounted on the upper end of each spindle for supporting a container in a neck-down position, a spur gear mounted coaxially on each spindle, a first stationary rack means mounted adjacent the line of travel of said spindle, said rack being positioned to engage the spur gears on said spindles as said spindles are moved to and through the coating area, whereby said spindles are caused to progress in one direction, a second stationary rack means mounted adjacent the path of movement of said spindles, said second rack means being engaged by the spur gears on said spindles after the spindles have moved out of the coating area, whereby said spindles are caused to progress in another direction for ease of removal of containers carried by the chucks.
 3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said chuck means comprises an annular member, said member being formed with a container neck receiving opening in one end thereof, radially, outwardly extending recess means formed in the neck receiving opening of said member adjacent the said one end thereof, resilient means positioned in said recess and extending inwardly of said opening, whereby positioning of a container neck in said member causes compression of said resilient means to seal the neck area of the container from intrusion of externally applied coating solutions, and venting means connected to the interior of said member and container for preventing a vacuum within the container. 